Category:Queens Park Drinking Fountain

postcard [image info]

Undated postcard image, apparently showing a stepped water feature flowing through the park past the Drinking Fountain, [image info]

Undated postcard from the same series, apparently showing a stepped water feature flowing through the park past the Drinking Fountain, [image info]

The Queens Park Drinking Fountain was unveiled in 1893 as an additional way of commemorating the gift of the park to the town, in addition to the inscriptions on the Gates.

The two sepia postcard images to the right seem to show a water feature running through the park, past the Fountain.

Design

The fountain is essentially square in cross section, and mostly red terracotta, with domes and roof-style edge detail in white/cream sandstone. It sits on a stepped grey granite octagonal base, with a fat octagonal pillar in each corner. The centre and the four pillars hold squat onion domes that used to be topped by cupolas.

Each face has a squat curved arch with inset white sandstone decorations and a used to have a drinking fountain spout and wide bowl/dish, topped by a black inscribed granite plaque that people would tend to read when bringing their face close to drink.

The four plaques above the sites of the four bowls are not identical: they have essentially similar inscriptions, but put emphasis on naming different people involved with the creation of the park.

Architect?

It's difficult to find a credit for who designed the fountain, but it may well have been designed by the Borough Engineer, Francis J.C. May, who gets a passing mention on one of the four plaques, and whose architectural credits include the Preston Park Clock Tower, which has some stylistic similarities.

Fountain inscription

BOROUGH OF BRIGHTON

THIS FOUNTAIN WAS ERECTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE BOROUGH TO COMMEMORATE THE GIFT OF "QUEENS PARK" BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE RACE STAND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE INHABITANTS OF BRIGHTON A.D. 1893 JOSEPH EWART __ MAYOR

Current state

The fountain is currently purely a monument, with the water-bowls having been removed.

For some reason that we haven't yet been able to work out, comparing current photos with old photos shows that the cuplola "knobs" at the top of the five small domes seem to have been sawn off.

External links

• Queen's Park: The Drinking Fountain (mybrightonandhove.org.uk)
• Queens Park Drinking Fountain (publicsculpturesofsussex.co.uk)